I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset.
When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
And when I find my ball in a brid Egg Friday Egg, the dreaded Friday Friday, Fridagg Fridagg Bride Egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off of the hump course. Welcome back to another edition of the FRIDAYGG Podcast. Today I am joined by Denny McCarthy, PGA Tour player. Denny is fresh off a career year on the PGA Tour. I think he finished thirty seventh in the FedEx Cup. He had a top ten and a major, a slew of other top tens on the PGA Tour in the
calendar year. Denny played golf at Virginia and just someone I've gotten to know through the years on tour and really enjoyed the conversation about improving at the PGA Tour level, his putting, which is truly world class, league of his own putter, and then a little bit on live and the future of the PGA Tour. Before we get to Denny. Real quick, we have a Labor Day sale going on in the Fridagg Pro Shop. It is fifteen percent off everything.
It is automatically applied at checkout, so go in there if you're looking for some new gear, new hat, t shirts, hoodies, layers for the fall, as well as print photography, so you know, if you're looking to dress up your office or room in the house, or wherever it may be, check out our print photography. And without further ado, here is Denny McCarthy. What's up with you?
How have you been?
I've been good.
I'm just back down in Florida.
I live in Jupiter. After BMW took like five or six days off and then really got back into it the last four or five days.
Are you playing Napa?
I am playing Napa. Yeah.
It's a place, uh place I haven't played well, but I feel like I'm just due there for a lot of good things to happen. I've I think I've played there four times and I haven't made the cut there before, and theoretically it should be a good place for me. My coach took a job at a place called Shooting Star and Jackson Hole this summer.
Have you have you heard of that place? Uh?
Huh?
It looks unbelievable. So he works seven or eight months down in Boca at Pine Tree here and then he took this job this summer. So I'm actually going out next week to play in a their pro member called the Dusty Boot, and I'm gonna get some work in with him. Uh, and then I'm gonna go straight from there to Napa. So aw, I'm looking I'm looking forward. Probably I'm looking forward to Jackson Hole more than I am.
Going to Nappa.
But it'll be a nice be nice to see him and get dialed in before I go out there.
Uh, coming like, so we'll just get into it. Since Ferrari going.
But coming into this year, obviously, you had the best year of your career, do you does it do you feel different going into the season, Like are you more excited or is there is there a different mentality you feel like after you know, falling just short of Eastlake this year and having the best year of your career, do you do you go into this week a little bit different?
Uh?
Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
I was a little disappointed and deflated with how I kind of ended my year, but that didn't last very long.
Like, honestly, a day or two after, I'm like, I'm ready to like get back into it.
I'm excited where my game is at. I keep getting better every year, and I'm seeing some some really nice improvements, you know, like I'm able to I'm able to compete on big hard golf courses and and and I can hit it well enough to where I can put myself in contention at these big places, which I can't necessarily say about my game two or three years ago. So I love that aspect. I love that I can, you know, more weeks than not. I feel like my game is ready to compete and win tournaments.
What's crazy.
I have such an appreciation for the top guys because so many of those guys do that every time they play, which is just like people don't understand how hard that is to do. Like some of these guys are just machines, Like they're just NonStop always they're always playing good golf, which is incredible.
It's really hard to do. And I I, you know, that's kind of the next step is kind of just.
Even when my even when I'm not on, like even when my you know, these guys bad, like when they don't play a great round, they still manage to somehow shoot a couple under them the come out and shoot seven under the next day, they when they have their stuff. So I think I'm excited because my game is that it just I feel like I keep getting better. I've been knocking at the door a few times, and I'm just excited to put myself in contention and just keep
trying to win golf tournaments. And once I once I get that first win, I think that'll be a nice relief where I can just kind of just freewheel it and keep going.
It seems like putting together a tournament. And at every level you see it, like at the corn Ferry Tour level, you see it at the tour levels, there are certain guys that it's like there's almost like always nine holes where there's going to be like you're going to struggle for a period of your four rounds when you're playing well, and it's like the guys that turn seventy one seventy one.
Into sixty nine. That's the big difference, right.
For sure.
And usually that happens, you know early in the week, like there there could be a stretch where you make the cut, but like, man, you you really could have put some put some you know, put yourself in a really good position by shooting three or four under, a couple under on that nine holes. Instead you shoot a couple over when guys were you know, say you make a bogie a bogie on an easier hole, when guys are just birdy in that hole, like you feel like you lose something for sure.
I had that happen a couple of times.
This year where I didn't really feel like I played all that bad, like I've there are a couple of times where I played a really good front nine, really clean, and then either like a three putt or just a slight change in the momentum, and I tried not to let it affect me.
I feel like I did a pretty good job of it.
But but but things like there are a couple different times where it just it I couldn't get myself back in that rhythm that I had on the front nine. Uh, and I can't quite get the putts to fall and maybe shoot a couple over on that back nine. And it's just like now so close to getting just like just totally out of my own way today and totally just being locked in. And some I mean that happens.
It's and it's when you play consecutive weeks in a row and you're making the cuts and you're playing four rounds a week, like it's it can be easy to slip up for that for that little.
Bit of time, you know.
That's what I think. That's what the top, Like I mentioned, the top guys are just machines. Like you look at like Patrick Cantley, like when he's playing well, like he doesn't really have that many slip ups.
He's literally just like laser focus. You know.
He didn't even I feel like he didn't even really play that great at East like he from what I saw, it seemed like he was just missing a lot of really good looks. But he was still like right there like Okay, it's fine, I'm gonna miss I miss that look, but I'm just gonna I'm just gonna give myself that's like a similar look on the next hole. And like he just keeps doing that and doing that and do and doing that and like overcoming how deflating it could be.
So like watching somebody like that, you can learn something, you know, like, man, this guy just doesn't let that affect him. He's totally unflappable, Like he just keeps going and going.
How much do you think of that is consistently getting yourself into those moments like getting yourself in the mix. Where do you think it's so so much of it is a confidence thing.
I do, Yeah, I do think that's part of it experience. There's a learning curve to it, for for sure. I also think just.
I really like where my game and swing is.
I think, at times, yeah, I can I tend to get a little fast, which causes a few bad tendencies to maybe creep into my swing a little bit.
And it seems like some of those.
Guys keep it really even keel or even the guys that let it out, like say like Rom for instance, like he's emotionally like he likes to like get it out and then he and then he uses it to almost fuel him. So it's like you just got to find what works for you and those situations. For me,
I think it's I'm pretty upbeat walker. I like I walk fast, like I don't even notice it, but then like how I like will watch myself on like some a video somebody took, or if I see like a replay and I see like the clip of man, I'm like, man, I'm walking so fast, and I know I'm like probably breathing fast too. So for me, I think it's just just staying staying a feel like I'm maybe moving just half a second slower here or there, try and calm
it down. It's I think everybody else. Everybody has their own kind of you know what, what's the best thing to kind of keep me in this round or keep me in the moment. Everyone has their own thing.
It's you what you brought up earlier about, like how sometimes it's just like a three putt takes you out
of that. Like I've noticed so much with my own personal game, it's like bad t shots almost always follow three putts, and it's just like that little unsettling and what you're saying, like it could be just you speeding up like a half click because you're a little you know, hot after a mistake, and that's the little thing that just gets you out of that really nice flow that you had going through the whole round, right for for sure.
And I can think of two different examples where I didn't feel like my thought process was that different, but the rounds went totally different ways. And one was the US Open.
The final round.
I got off to a great start, made some pars on like I bro was three hundred through five and then parted like six seven, eight, and I hit two really good shots on nine and three putted, and I was I was livid because I felt like I should have shot four or five under on that nine, and I just turned in two under after getting off to a hot start, Like I went from like putting a lot of pressure on those guys and seeing my name into just kind of like drifting back a little, and
I totally let it go, like I got back in my mindset like ten's a really hard hole. It broke line, and I got up and I piped a drive hit just smashed a seven iron right at it and almost made the putt, and then I just continued to like string along good holes after that. I didn't like I shot even on the back, but like I played the quality of golf that I played on the front nine to shoot you know a couple under uh and put myself,
you know, right there in the mix. And unfortunately I didn't do that, but I was giving myself the looks and at least chances to do that by kind of just and then Memphis a couple of weeks ago, like same thing, final round played great three putted on nine. I was like four under through seven or eight. Three putted on nine, hit a good three whoot off ten, which I thought was staying short of this bunker, gets a terrible eye, scull it out and almost make birdie,
and then the next toll eleven can be dicey. The win was switching all over. Maybe it didn't make a fully committed swing. I was just trying to hit a nine iron in the middle of the green, pulled it a little, hit a sprinkler head and goes like over the over the water like in Pine Straw. It was just like I didn't feel like things changed that much.
But when you go like then I had like a really stressful shot to try and save a bogie or double, and then it's just like like my I tried to calm myself down, but it's hard to do in that time. Like you played a very stress free front nine and then you hit like all these like just didn't feel like I hit that bad of shots. But then I'm like going through like a stressful tenth and eleventh hole, and it's just like it just kind of just takes
you out of the nice rhythm. It's hard to like get back into okay, fairway green, make a putter or hit a good putt like it it's hard to get back into that rhythm.
Uh. The US opened great event for you, obviously, shooting sixty eight sixty eight on the weekend, you moved up a ton, but it was kind of part of a really good stretch of golf for you. You had that, you had the Memorial you finished fifth in, and then you had John Deera a couple of weeks later that you finished sixth. And was there was there a moment leading into that stretch of golf that something clicked Like what it explained?
You know, like did you just get you know what happened in those weeks.
That's a good questions, good question. I mean, I feel like I was putting a lot of work in.
I believe the stretch before that was like, uh, it was like Wells Fargo where I played well the weather was disgusting, like that was my hometown event, and I put in a lot of prep and.
Work that went into that week. Like I mean, I I got to Maryland.
On like Saturday, I played nine holes like nine Sunday, nine Monday, nine Tuesday, nine Wednesday, and I was like, even though I played that course a bunch, like I just wanted to get really good prep in the weather was awful on the weekend, and me being a average length hitter, it just played really super long for me.
And I got Rory behind me flying it forty bind me and he's hitting a nine iron in and I'm hitting a like a I'm like deciding between a chippy cut four or like a hard draw five, and he's deciding between a full boar wedge or nine iron. It just became a little difficult on the weekend. But that that preparation and that week that that place has a lot of hard golf shots and I was able to
hit a lot of them under tournament tournament conditions. And then it went to like I got into the PGA as an alternate and got some good prep in there, even though I like wasn't in until Bryson pulled out on Wednesday night. And then Colonial the next week. Both like Southern Hills and Colonial, both windy conditions, ball strikers golf course. I like playing in the wind. I like
I like I feel like I have good control. Just living down in South flo you have to be able to control your ball and those twenty mile an hour winds, and so I feel like I was playing some good golf controlling my ball, just wasn't really getting that, you know, that many great scores out of it. And then we went to Memorial where it wasn't that windy. The first few days were firm, but not that firm. It was just like, finally, like I just felt like at peace.
I feel like like I wasn't playing in these brutal conditions where I'm hitting you know, stingers, keeping it low. Even though I liked playing that sala of golf, it was just like like, I don't know. It was of course that I felt like I could play well at if I just hit the ball on the fairway, especially since especially the way my iron game has been trending, and I was able to put together a handful of
really good rounds. I putted really well the first few rounds that week, and so it's hard to say like exactly when it's gonna come, but like I had been putting in some really good, like threat and hard work at the tournaments leading up to that, and I don't know, I just felt kind of at ease, and it's like I feel like once I have one of those kind of events, like I'm like.
Okay, my game is good.
I can compete on like a big hard golf course with the top guys and like that. That was a big confidence boost for me, especially going into the US Open and obviously played well there too. I mean, it was a it was a fun stretch of golf. It's something that I would like, I said about the top guys, like I'd like to do that more often than just popping up, you know, for you know, a month's stretch at a.
Time and then kind of fading away. I'd like to be there. I like to be there more often.
Yeah, I mean that's obviously looking at your career, in your your game and and you know, with the with the stats, like contending at the Memorial, that's like a traditionally placed where it's it's the best ball strikers, and I think, you know, obviously i'd love to hear about the incremental improvement you're you're I mean, I don't I don't want this to sound hyperbolic, but you know when you look at your statistical profile, like you're you're the best putter in the world, which is it is a
crazy you know, like you you look at it and it's.
Like that, it's nuts.
How have you gone about incrementally improving your other aspects of your game without you know, with you know, one of the things I think across life, whether any profession, if you go and try and improve something that maybe is a little bit of a weakness, sometimes your strength diminished. How have you gone about incrementally improving your your ball striking without losing your you know, your your talent.
Yeah, I think I've always had really good hand eye, so, you know, shooting a basketball, darts, cornhole, like ring toss, ping pong, putting, Like I put all that like in
the same category. Like I don't lose I don't. I feel like I don't lose my hand eye ability, Like I feel like I can even though I still put in a little work on my putting, but I feel like I can leave it untouched for you know, a little bit at a time and kind of just I come back and I have a fifteen twenty minute session and I'm like, oh, yeah, this is like I say, I haven't putt it in four or five days.
I'm like, yeah, I just got got my.
Feel back, and it's just like riding a bike, So like, it's nice that I don't need to like spend hours and hours in a bent over posture putting, especially since once I get on the course of my process is actually pretty simple, Like I just I picked spots and I line my ball up at this.
So can I ask you a question, Yeah, do you think about speed at all?
Yes, it's factored into kind of what I'm seeing with the spot, and yes it's factored in.
I'm not like.
I'm not people ask me that, Yes, Like why am I such a good putter? Because I have a really good feel, My speed is really good, and I read the greens very well. That is why I put very well most times, because I've played golf for almost thirty years. Well I've probably played for twenty five or six years, and a lot of trial and error and reading greens and seeing things and kind of just I've got just so much data on all the putts I've ever hit and what they look like to my eyes.
So I feel like I've formulated.
A good system for reading greens, and then I have good touch and feel where I'm kind of taking that into account when I'm picking my spots. It sounds all like very complicated, but like it's very simple. When I get out on the course, like I'm just like I just I try and find spots or things that stick stick out to my eye that I can use in reading the putt.
Are they spots close or are they far? Like what is a mixture?
It's a it's a mixture.
I'd say more times than not, it's kind of halfway halfway through the putt. It could be maybe, you know, fifteen feet away, but more times than not, it's somewhere in the middle of the putt, whether it's a ball mark, a piece of sand to blade it like like a shade of grass, like you know, like a there could be like a dark shade and like a light shade, Like I'm gonna go like a ball or two into
that light shade of grass. Like it's just anything that kind of sticks out where I see it could potentially be going.
So it's yes, it's it.
Sounds complicated, but if I were here showing you what I was what I was doing, and like you'd be like, yeah, I mean I get that, Like I see that spot and I kind of see like what you're talking about.
That's that's generally how I think about putting.
But one of my biggest issues is like when I look down at the ball, sometimes I lose my spot.
Yeah, so that's why I I I draw the line on my ball, but I don't use the full line when I'm like have a bigger breaking like, I'll use more of the full line closer in on less breaking puts. But once the farther I get away, and the more it breaks, I actually tilt my line down. I wish I had, I wish I had a ball here to show you, but I tilt.
I do have a ball. Actually give me one second. It's one of my hole and one balls.
Oh wow, how about a hole? What's you have?
This was one I made in the second round of the players. It was on a shelf over here in my in my family room. Uh, so you can see it's not like a huge doesn't go. It goes less than halfway around the ball. So farther away I get it, I'll tilt my line down. So what I'm seeing, what I'm seeing when I look over top is barely just like the end of this. So if I were putting this way, I would base just be looking at like the top of the line like that, so I've kind
of pointed it down towards my at my spot. But when I get over the ball, I'm not so like line obsessed, Like I'm not seeing the whole line, so I'm not like the very end of the line is kind of pointing so like i'd be lining it up. That's what you would see if you were like on the whole side. But I see I look over it and I see that basically, so I see a little bit of the line. It's pointed at my spot, and then that way, I'm not like super obsessed with the line.
I know it's pointed right like right near the spot, and then I can kind of play with it over top, like okay, maybe that that feels maybe a touch low. Maybe I'll mark it real quick and just like move it a little higher or like it's pretty good, and then from there it's all like okay, like now just now I'm looking at the hole and just kind of dialing in the speed that goes.
With that line's got to help you with your body, get your body set right correct, And I.
This is what I do the tiger gate drill.
Before I find like a five foot putt, I put my putter down, the t's in between, and I'm lining up my ball and everything.
I put an alignment stick down to.
This is the only really putting drill I use, but I try and get everything pretty square. The more square everything is, the more my body is just gonna want to swing on that line. I have a tendency to sometimes open my feet. I think most right handers or most golfers tend to get open stance, but they're putting, which is fine. Uh, for me, that just tends sometimes I get a little swipey. The more open I actually get, the more I wanna, the more I actually want to leak,
leak left to writers. So actually, like sometimes I practice a drill where it's more so for my left to writers because I have a tendency to open up and kind of leak them a.
Little bit so.
That I know it's I mean, it's it's just a it's a hard but sometimes, I mean, so it's one that you want. You have to feel like you pick a high line. You got to commit to it. Sometimes you feel like it can be too high and then you can just like push it down and then that's when it leaks. It's everyone can relate to it obviously. Sometimes I feel like in practice, I like close my stance a little bit and almost feel like I'm just like covering the putt. Basically, it's not. It's that's kind
of the term I use. But when I get more square those left rights, I feel like I can cover it more and make a make a better stroke on it, where I'm kind of compressing the ball more instead of kind of letting it just like come off my face, I'm actually giving it a nice compression to it. It's kind of just a couple of the terms I use.
Putting to be is fascinating.
I was curious about the speed thing because I always like, I I feel like I've I've caddied enough of my life. I've played enough in my life that I never I if I walk around the hole and I look at the putt intrinsically, I know how hard to hit the putt right, I don't need to you know, it's not something I need to think about. Somebody doesn't need to tell me it's uphill or downhill, or it's fast like intrinsing.
And I I always use this term.
I always use this analogy is like do you think Steph Curry comes across half court and is thinking about like, hey, I'm thirty seven feet away from the hole or thirty seven away feet away from the hoop.
I need to throw it this hard. Like No, he just knows.
He just shot the ball right exactly exactly. And that's that's, you know what's crazy, Like he probably knows. And this is what like analogy that I would like tag along that, Like he knows. If he's probably running faster and stops on a dime, he probably doesn't need to like shoot it as hard. But if you're but if you're if you're walking and you're kind of just like and you're walking into that shot, you probably need to use more power.
But if you're going into it with like a jaw like a jog, you know how, like guys will pull like we'll be on fast break and they'll pull up from like the three point line. Like I think that's a hard shot because then you're like jumping up forward and like you need to shoot it SOFTI but as opposed to like if you just were just there for like a set three, somebody pass you the ball, you need a little more effort and energy. It's like the same, the same kind of thing. I mean, that's that was
a good analogy you brought up. Like I don't know, he does not He's not like this is thirty eight feet, I need to shoot this this hard.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
That's why I always think about and like the you know, I stopped thinking about speed, and all of a sudden I got way better at putting because like I didn't freak myself out about like uphill downhill.
Did you play a lot of sports growing up?
I did?
Yeah, I played, I've used I played basketball through high school. I actually have a like a half court score court in my backyard that I that I go jay it up on every now and then. It's a nice way to kind of it's a nice way to stay active and still like get a sweat in without like maybe going to the golf course and if you have like a couple off weeks, like I like to just go like run around and be a crazy person out there and and cheot hoops like something I always loved and
honestly it was probably my first love before golf. Like I I would just wish I'm me being five eight that basketball was never really gonna happen I mean maybe if I was like six or five, it would have been a more realistic discussion. But yeah, I loved, loved basketball. I played all the way through high school. I loved baseball too.
I played.
I played pitcher and and like short and third. I can throw a ball really hard. And sometimes actually, when when I do something stupid on the golf course, instead of instead of now yelling a cussword or something, I will just like crow hop off the side of the green and throw a ball into the woods really hard, which which, uh.
It's me.
It's just like I got I got that off. My I got that I got that out. Now now I can just go play off again.
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Use the promo code TFE and you'll get fifteen percent off your order. Thank you, Riomar, And now back to Denny McCarthy. See you didn't specialize into golf until like college, probably.
Yeah, I mean I knew like early in high school that you know, I was early on in high school that I was probably gonna be going to college to play golf. And I got a lot better at golf my like junior year of high school going into senior year. That's kind of when I was getting into all those A jagas, the invitationals. I want a lot of stuff
in Maryland locally. And then I took it to the A j G a stage, if you will, and was competing right away with you know, Speef and JT, and you know, I want a big I won the Junior PGA that summer, which was my biggest tournament I'd ever want to bench against all those guys. So and those guys were ranked I think I touched touched number one in the world ranking junior wise for for a week or two there. I was playing some really good golf
that summer. So that's kind of the time where I knew, like, yeah, I mean, I'm definitely I'm obviously doing this college. And you know, that's kind of when I started thinking about that's probably what I'm gonna do as a As a career. It's turned out pretty good so far. I haven't haven't quite kept pace with with JT and speak those guys are our twenty eleven class.
There's a lot of a lot of talent in that class. I'm sure.
I mean, guys talk about it all the time about the twenty eleven class. I was kind of like on the underrated side of it. I guess, if you will. My process has taken a little bit longer than some of those other guys, but I'm still I'm still there.
Well, I mean, I think that one of the things I find the most fascinating about golf versus, like to say, basketball, is like, you know, you knew Lebron was going to be, you know, one of the best players of the NBA when he was sixteen years old.
And I think one of the neat things about golf is that improvement.
And who's the best at thirteen isn't necessarily going to be the best at sixteen? And who's the best at eighteen isn't going to be the best at twenty three. Who's the best at twenty three might not be the best who's at thirty. Like there's this non linear improvement. It's a it's a sport that's incredibly hard to get better at.
Right, Yes, it is.
And that's like that's why it's like this game is totally perfect for me, because if you knew me, like I'm super competitive, Like I'm always trying to find ways to get better at all the games I mentioned earlier, like darts, cornhole, like coming up with I came up with the new cornhole method like a couple months to go that I absolutely love. Like you know, the pros they like flick it in the bag, you know, spin sideways. I actually like hold it by the corner and back
spin it that way. And I like I feel more in more control than my cornhole shot than ever before. And like you said, this, this game is really hard to keep improving on, but like that's like that's what drives me, is like finding little ways to like get better at things, like whether it's cornhole or darts, or shooting a basketball or or like in my golf game, in my golf swing. Like I'm always like to me, that's what drives me, is like trying to get better
like all the results and stuff. And and yes, we get to do it for a living and we're playing for a ton of money, which is like amazing, But that's not like I'm not playing for the money. Like I'm I'm, I really truly love the game and I really want to try and get better at it, and like and then everything else just comes along with It's just a byproduct of just getting better.
And like that's kind of how I have always looked at it.
So, what have been the.
Little hacks that you've figured out to improve your ball striking? Because I think that's been the biggest thing that's that's taken you from you know, you know kind of like middle tier tour player. This year you were in the upper upper probably six of tour players. You know.
Yeah, yeah, so we were.
That was the original question I think you were getting at before we went on this like twenty minute sidetrack. But now we're back to the point. So I started working with my coach, Brian Kregan like a year and a half ago. I had known him. He's a he's at Shooting Star this summer. I told you about Shooting Star this summer. He works at Pine Tree down here, and I'd known him for probably five years before I
started working with him. And I had had a couple buddies that were you know, minor league players or many tour guys seeing him down here and he worked with you know some for guys like Ben Polland and Jared Hack and so I went to him just like super lost. After I just played the West Coast just got eaten up by like Tory and and Riv and all these hard ball striker places where like I just didn't feel like I had much of a Like I just wasn't hitting it good. I didn't have like a clear thought.
I was kind of lost, and I went to after the West Coast, I went to him. I'm like, We've known I've known you for a while. I've heard like I've heard you help you know these guys, Like I'd like to just come like see you and like talk about things, and like our first lesson went great.
His kind of philosophy is.
He's very smart with like the anatomy of the body and how the body is supposed to like move and load, and so literally everything we've talked about is is is like nothing about like what the club is doing, which is crazy because I've never really thought of golf swing
like that. Like I'm literally only focusing on how my body is moving, how I'm engaging my core, and how I'm using my foot pressure in the back swing, and how I want my might have pressure in my feet, but mobility and my ankle to turn and like things that i'd like never thought about, but it was a way that was really helpful to me because I'd never thought about it before.
It just it felt simple. He's like very smart, but he dumbs it down to keep it simple for me.
And so if I'm able to kind of load the backswing how I want to, I'm then able to kind of get push off, get pressure into the left and kind of turn and swivel. Like when I do this stuff right, I feel powerful and I'm much more efficient with how I'm using my body and I can get more speed with it.
I feel like that's how coaching into the most most right, Like when yeah, when we we were kids, it was like video and here's you know, your club needs to be out here, and it's like it's not like now, it's more how does the body and how does the body move to get the club to those positions? Like if the body moves right, the club's gonna move the way you want it to move right exactly.
And I think and right after we did this, you know, I played at like I finished like twenty fourth at bay Hill, and like that was with shooting four I shot like four over on Sunday and and didn't move like I entered the day twenty third and shot four over and finished twenty fourth, like it played that hard, but like I played, I played well, Like this was the first tournament after seeing him, and then the week the week later, I was like second to last group
of the players going into the weekend, Like I played great, this was there, here's the whole one ball showed. This was like two or three weeks after working with him, Like I was like striping it, like everything felt really good. And then I finished like third at Honda after that, Like I've went on like a really good stretch of golf just with in working with him in just a
short time, like I had a much clear picture. And I think I kind of the stuff that I'm doing like requires like it's forced me to get in the gym more honestly to get my to get my body stronger, bigger, to to be able to do like the stuff that we're trying to work on more efficiently.
And I've done.
I think I found a good program, routine, good exercises to help enforce this this year, which kind of you know, I've played all these places, I'm more comfortable, I'm more comfortable with my swing, I'm getting stronger. Like all these things kind of just kind of like came together to like start playing some like really good golf. And I think I have a good process of where you know, I think I can be doing this for a long
time and really successfully. So I'm excited about, you know, how these things worked this year, and I'm excited and like continuing to evolve my process, if that makes sense.
How how have you changed your scheduling with with where you play over over the years. Has that has have you added? Do you are there places you avoid, places that you know you should go to? Like is that is that something that has evolved as you've been on tour.
Yeah, Like Sanderson Farms. I love Sanderson Farms. Like that's a great golf course for me. I will always play that tournament there. There's a there's a bunch of tournaments like, for instance, Tory Pines. I as much as I love Toy like the I think the property is amazing. I
think San Diego is awesome. Uh, It's probably not the best place for me one because it's you do need to hit a great and it doesn't really favor a great putter, like I struggled actually the last time I played there a year and a half ago, I struggled with with my putting, like more so than I have it any other place, maybe maybe Monterey Peninsula, when before you could tap down spike marks. That's the the Moneray Peninsula is like my like, I'm never coming back to
this place. And then they change the spike markle. I'm like, Okay, I guess I'll go back and play and play pebble because if you play money on the third day and your last off or something like I was. The year I played it, I'm like it was like one of the most confident, shattering like putting experience I've ever had. Like I didn't feel like I could hit the hole from five feet at Monterey uh. And that's kind of what it was like a little mini version of that
at Tori a couple of years ago. So I'm out on toy for now. Maybe I'll go back there for the US opener later in my career. I think it just like kind of depends on like most like there's a definitely a handful of places I have in my mind that I love, like I'm gonna go to every year, and then there's like a handful of places like give
or take, Like uh, I mean, everything can change. Like you you win a tournament and you have like two really great weeks, and then you spend a lot of energy, like you might need a couple of weeks off, and you might not play that place that you played the year before because you just need like a little top, like you just need some time off from the weeks you just played.
I mean, I think.
And then there's other places where maybe you're not playing great leading up to it and you need a good event, and maybe you play a place that you haven't played it. To me, it's totally dependent on how you feel, how you've played leading.
Up to it.
What kind of decision goes into Like Okay, I do like I played well here last year, but I just played well the last two weeks, had two really good weeks. I could maybe use I could either I could go win that tournament or I could use an off week. Like it's it's it kind of just depends.
How's how's this year You've you've had your career on the PGA tour has had some interesting periods between COVID and now uh now this year with the live live drama How's This year, they're a bit different on tour with with the like kind of live speculation.
It's definitely that's seems like that controls like eighty percent of the conversation, like anywhere you are, like if you're not talking about it, you see somebody else at a table that you don't know what they're talking about, but you're like ninety percent sure those three guys are talking about something related to live.
Like it's like I I've kind of like.
Gotten sick of talking about it the last few months, Like I don't care if these guys go like go like if you're gonna go like like okay, good, Like I get it. You're making you you got offered a ton of money that was probably hard to turn down. You have a kid or two, and like you're looking to support your family. Like I totally understand that.
I totally get it.
They want the financial stability of it, at least, like some of them have come out and said that, where like other people have been like they've like.
Kind of like danced around like what they what they actually went there for. They Yeah, I'm us, I'm gonna use the money to like grow the game.
Like now you're like, get you got a massive offer and you just you you wanted all that money, Like just come out and say that, like Harold, Like I liked reading Harold.
It's like I love Harold.
Uh, it's unfortunate that he's leaving because he's he's a good buddy of mine. And but like I at least like his letter is like I'm gonna be real with you, like it's I I did it to support my family and future generations of my family. And I totally get that. I totally understand it. And I like how he said, like it's still gonna be me. I'm this, I'm the same me. I still like want to be friends with
all you guys, but I don't. I don't like as long as these guys, like, I think it's kind of annoying that some of these guys are like they say these things that would they they want to play less and they want to play less and they want to be with their families more. And then they they go to the Lift Tour and then they want to come play the PGA Tour too, Like I'm like you said you wanted to play less. Why why do you want to play the Lift Tour and the PGA Tour be
playing way more? Actually if you were doing that, So I got those like some people have been kind of talking out both sides of their mouths, which can happen. I guess I'm staying on the PGA Tour and I'm gonna continue to get better and win tournaments, and I want to play in majors and I want to play against the best players in the world, and right now it's still a PGA Tour.
Is there anything appealing? Do you find anything appealing about Liv's system or setup? Is there anything about it that you you think is appealing.
I think the team aspect is appealing, but maybe not every week. Like golf, golf is very much an individualized sport. Outside of a couple events. There's you got the Ryder Cup and the President's Cup, and you know, those events are very very appealing to me. I don't know if I'd want to be part of a team event every week. I mean, I guess it sounds cool. I mean, I don't know the reason I like golf so much is because it's all like you can you can control everything yourself.
I guess you can still do that in the team aspect.
I don't know. I mean.
The team part is cool, but everything else about it just doesn't even see Like I don't think i'd be able to to get up like I would go into a PGA Tour event, Like I don't think i'd my the juices would be flown as much if I were playing a live event, because I know I have a ton of guaranteed money even and even if I don't play that well, I'm still making a ton of money.
Like I don't think the incentive uh is that high, Like I have a very high competitive drive and and I don't think I think I would lose some of that if if that were the case, if I were to go play on the Lift Tour for a team event relying on my teammates, like I don't I'd like to take more accountability myself.
What what do you think of as as a player?
I you know that is not in you know right now, not in the top like you know that that PIP type player, But is you know a player that would be kind of in the mix for these elevators, like, how do you feel about the tour's new response with these elevated events, and then you know, kind of the it's almost like, I I don't want to use this term, uh, you know, too lightly, but the PGA Tour A and the PGA Tour B typed set up that they're moving towards.
Yeah.
I mean, I know one thing, it's a it's a good time for me to be playing good golf. You know, I want to be, like I said, I'm very competitive. I want to be playing with the best players of the world, and those guys getting better it has only driven me to keep getting better, so you know, it's
it's it's definitely interesting. I think if I didn't have as good of a year, i'd be like, I'd be like, man, they're playing for They're going to play for all that money this year, and I'm not going to get into I'm not going to get into any of those events.
I think it's a good thing that I'm on the other side of that where I think I don't know the criteria exactly, but it seems like I'm going to be in a handful of those bigger, elevated perse events and like I said, I don't necessarily play this game for the money. I mean, I do do it for a living, and I'm very grateful for that. But at the same time, like I told you earlier, I'm just
trying to I'm really just trying to get better. Like I just want to see how good I can get at golf, and it's a good time to do that with the money that we're playing for, with these these elevated purses.
It's very interesting.
I'm sure there's going to be a handful of tour members that don't get into those events are going to be kind of pissed off, but it might motivate them the same way it's motivated me to kind of get their ass into gear so that you do play for those twenty million dollars versus.
Yeah, I think it provides a little bit clearer definition and and and I think like something that I've I've kind of been on a kick with is like when I look at the top of the of the corn Ferry Tour and you know, the the bottom half of
the PGA Tour, It's like, what's really the difference? And could there be you know, like an event you alluded to, like the Sanderson, could we could it morph into more of like a a mix between the top corn fairy guys in the bottom part of the PGA tour where all of a sudden we're starting to blur the lines and it becomes a little bit more like the way other sports operate, like n b A you have two way contracts with with players that you know, if if you're not playing a lot on the on on on
your on your team and your younger guy, you go. But you could kind of play back and forth between the G League and the NBA. If it's baseball, you're playing Triple A and and in the major leagues, like you, you're bouncing back and forth. Your status isn't necessarily locked in for an annual basis.
I mean, I here, what were what are your thoughts on that?
Thought?
It was really cool when so I think, what was that the COVID year, whatever year the corner played two years, the top ten guys were able to play like the opposite field events.
Is that what it was?
I think?
So? Yeah, yeah, so the top ten I thought that was really cool, and I think I think they could do more of that where say you finish, say you finish, you play four or five events on the corn Ferry and you've earned like you're the top five guys in that top five or that would just be the maybe the top five ways maybe like the top ten guys
in that like five week stretch. Say, do you then have the option if you want to to go play like you get you qualify for a tour event or two, like where you're able to play in a couple of tour events.
I think that would be really cool.
Like those guys on the corn Ferry that are winning those tournaments and finishing towards the top were obviously playing well, why not throw them into the mix for a tour event or two and see what see what they can do?
What if they just jump right on the right on tour and they and they have and they win like right away on tour Like I think that would be a way to kind of like there could almost be like not graduate, but you play, you play a couple of tour events for those ten guys and if they don't earn x amount of points, then they go back to the cornferry. If not, like you're able to play a couple more tour events. I don't know how that works. But I think I think that's I think that's very interesting.
I also don't know, like these top elevated persons with these top players, Like I don't know how much, say these fields are only like forty say some of these fields they make like forty or fifty people and there's no cut, Like.
Do guys really want to watch? Like what if Rory.
Shoots like seventy five seventy three the first two days and then he's like in last place and he's forced to play like the weekend, Like do guys really want to watch that? Or the ratings higher? Like wouldn't it be high, ratings be higher if you let more people in and somebody somebody you wouldn't think of, because because the PGA tour is so deep, I mean, obviously you have the top players, but you know the fifty through the one, twenty five and even the one.
These guys are no they're no slouches.
They have the ability to win tournaments too, Like, wouldn't it be more interesting to throw in like more guys into those fields so you can maybe have somebody that is mixed in with the top players that somebody wouldn't expect, Like I feel like ratings are almost higher when that happens.
I don't know. I don't know. Well.
I think one of the big things that with the OWGR change is that bigger fields are very are advantageous for world ranking points. So with I think one of the things that you know, obviously a lot of the details on those elevated events are going to come out in the coming weeks, but it's very advantageous for the PGA Tour to make the elevated event fields big because they will get significantly more world ranking points, which is you know what you want. You want the best players
on your tour. You know, when they win an elevated point event to get cashed in, you know. So I think that's I think that will be it. I do.
I love you know.
The thing that I always think about is like Sung JM and Scottie Scheffler. These were guys that spent an
entire year on the on the corn Ferry Tour. I mean him went wired wire, Scheffler almost went wired to wires number one, and then they come on tour and I think Scheffler's first year he finished fifth in the FedEx Cup, and I think uh Sung Jay he made it to Eastlake, and it's like, you know, if I had spent some time at a couple of corn Fairy events the year Sung day, I think you were playing corn Ferry or no, maybe not.
Yeah.
The year he.
The year he won that money list is the year was my first year on tour, but I finished one twenty six to one fifty. I went back to corn Ferry Finals and I won the corn Ferry Finals. Me and him were basically in the same category for my second year on tour. It was his first year on tour.
Yeah, and and he you know, you go down, it's like everybody's like this, this kid's a machine. He's unbelievable. And it's like everybody knew it's five weeks into the corn Ferry Tour season that this guy was a bona fide tour player.
Right, just like give him some events out there to see what he can do and maybe he can just like earn like he gets to play for more money that year and he can prove that, like he's gonna earn his his tour card this year as well.
Like I think they're there.
There's an interesting way, like I think that could work, Like there's I feel like there could be a system where like because like it's really hard to win three.
Times on that like exactly anywhere that.
Promotion is like the promotion is ridiculous, Like but by the time somebody wins three times, it's most likely the very end of the year where they don't get any tour starts, like they might get one or two. Like it should be like it should be a two it should maybe make you should make you make that like a two win promotion or if you hit a certain point threshold by like a certain point in the year or something like, that person should be able to go
to the tour. Like if you hit like a a thousand point threshold where you definitely would have your card locked up.
Like you should be able to go to the tour or something. I don't know, there's.
Gotta be, yeah, I was.
I just did the math the other day because Pearson Coodie, young kid from Texas, he he was number one in the PGA Tour U system and so he took the cord Fairy starts and he and his he did eight starts in the regular season. He finished like thirty second or something. But like if if you if you made his starts a full season. He would have been first or second on the Corn Fairy based off his points
per start. And it's like and now he's on the outside looking in at Cord Fairy Finals because he's had like a few average weeks and it's like this is silly. This is you know, like no, no, nobody can look at this kid and not be like, hey, he's a PGA tour but he might end up on Corferry Tour for an entire year. And it's just like we you know this, it's twenty twenty two. We don't need to have like an archaic year by year. You know, there
can be some movement throughout the year. Right, it is almost like the reshuffle is the same thing on the PGA Tour, Like why are there specific reshuffle dates? Like why can't this just be a continuous reshuffle?
Right, I'm I'm with you, I'm with you, And like he could you know, he's probably gonna get his seven sponsor events, and like he's he's gonna have a good chance to do something about it because he's probably gonna he's gonna get some sponsor invites into the fall.
If he doesn't, if this is if he doesn't, if he doesn't get it.
He's gonna get enough sponsor invites where like he's probably good enough to top ten where he can, you know, top ten and one or two of the starts he gets and and snowballing that into another start.
And like it's probably good enough to do that.
But that's like a lot just said, it's kind of ridiculous, Like he he he might need he might potentially need to spend a whole nother year on corn carry when like he's clearly good enough to be on the PGA Tour.
Yeah, And I think like the discussion goes back to like live where if you want to build loyalty with young Like I loved Rory's comment, and I think it fits with the way you think about professional golf where he's like, we want to build the tour that if you want to be the best player in the world, this is where you want to play.
You know.
It's kind of like, hey, let's get the best players up as quick as possible.
Yeah, I mean, I'm totally in for that.
That only makes that only that only makes the the PGA Tour product bigger and better and stronger. Like that that only you know, because the game is just I don't know what the average ages on the PGA Tour, but it's crazy how many guys, how good some of these college players are. Like literally they could just jump into like a tour of Enter two and just be like like content, like contending, like they're they're right there with some of the top guys like immediately, which is
just crazy. It's just the game of golf is only getting better. It's crazy how deep it really is because there's so many guys that are trying to play professional golf on so many different platforms. But it was just like, it's crazy how many college kids are just coming out and they're just like ridiculously good and they can be on tour like that.
It's I mean, it's like anything, and it's only going to get, you know, more and more competitive with live in the in. The additional money of the tour is is when there's an influx of cash. Thatt like Tiger
Woods brought an influx of cash to the sport. And whenever whenever cash gets infused into a sport and money there's a lot of money, the talent pool gets significantly deeper because more people want to play it to you know, as a as an avenue and you know you're you're lucky, you're the you're in there, and you're probably gonna be
in a lot of these elevated events. You're I think, like in terms of PGA Tour, like, there's been never been a better time to be like a top fifty PGA Tour player than right now, because you know you have there are a few of some a handful of the best players in the world have have vacated and the persons are going up.
I know, yeah, I'm I totally agree with you.
I mean, it's like it's nice that all these persons are going up, and like to me, it doesn't really I know, I'm gonna be playing for more money, but that's that that really doesn't change my mindset of how I'm gonna go about it, because I believe, at least I don't know what my world ranking is, but I believe that I I'm right there at that top fifty player in the world type player, like where I'm close to kind of getting up to that next notch of
guys that were at the Tour Championship, like that top thirty ish. Like to me, if you make it to if you make it to a Tour championship. You're you're a top thirty player in the world. Like you're you're you're that caliber type of player where you could be
regarded as a top thirty player in the world. It's also like you talked about Rory like I've I've I got to play with him with the players this year, and I mean, with everything he dealt with this year, how much he took it upon himself to be like like a just take that role on of being the PGA Tours spokesperson basically and play the golf that he
plays like incredibly impressive, Like I'm always, I'm always. You know, he's been a big fan of I've been a big fan of his for forever and he's in my locker space area most weeks with McCrory McCarthy side.
I did think about that.
He's such a he's such a cool dude. Uh So, I want to congratulate him on winning the FECs Cup.
Is he gonna be your Player of the Year vote?
I don't know, don't I don't know. That's a good question. Scotty. Scotty obviously had an unbelievable year.
Scotty won four times big tournaments, and there was right there, and several other big tournaments, including another major.
Two. I think Scotti is probably the player of the year. But I looked at something the.
Other day like Rory Rory strokes games were slightly better this year than the year.
In twenty fourteen.
Yeah, when he won that, he went on like that ridiculous square he won, He won Valhalla, WGC Bridge Stone and then won the British Open, like just rattled off like three monster tournaments that year, which just shows how like deep professional golf is and how good it is. Like his strokes game, he still won a couple of
times this year, but he didn't win. He didn't win a major, and and and like' just like you said, this is the this is the best time to be on tour, Like this is I mean arguably, like arguably the best the game has ever been in terms of how many guys are at the top of the world, like at their game right now.
It's it's it's pretty crazy.
Yeah, I mean you look at it like a guy like Adam Scott, who's who I think, like you know, in terms of Adam Scott, He's he's played a lot of he's been a great player for a long time. And he you know, I think he even admitted maybe on the No Laying Up podcast, like he played he was playing some of his best golf right before the pandemic and it's like he played, he had a really good back half of his year and he's just like
he's like a guy. He's not like one of the guys anymore, but he's playing golf at a level that's probably pretty similar to when he was one of the guys.
And now, you know, and I think that's like the game.
It's what you talked about with the instruction, Like the instruction's changed so much. And I think with I did an interview with Jeff Ogilvie and he said, you know, he he lived through that track Man era change right where and I think he had this great quote that was like, you know, it used to be everybody would walk around the range and say, I think I figure
it out. And now it's everybody walks around the range and knows exactly what to do, like there's no you know, and I think like that's led And then with all the youth, I mean, the speed and the youth talent, it's just insane levels, right now it really is.
It's just growing, Like every aspect you just mentioning just keeps growing. And the younger kids understanding of like how to use the technology, like they they know what they're dialed, like their numbers are dialed like I can't. Like I started to use track Man in college a little bit, and I use it now too. I use it a lot for looking at you know, wedge numbers, short irons, like really dialing in those distances, and then like i still look at.
Numbers for driver and stuff.
But I'm not like not not no, I'm not a tech guru and I'm not like obsessed with the numbers, which it's like what I for, what I am using it for, It's perfect for me, Like I like to try and keep it as simple as possible. There's some people that are like they look at all the numbers like spin loft, dynamic loft, spin out, like all this stuff. I mean, they're they're like they're studying this stuff to a science, which is they're trying to figure you know, trying to use it to make them better.
But sometimes that can be too much for some people.
Yeah, well, daddy, thank you so much. I don't want to take up all your time. We're we'll be looking forward to seeing you next year at more and more big events and uh hopefully hopefully another career year and uh and uh, thanks so much and we'll talk again soon, I'm sure.
Yeah, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
Andy, thank you for listening to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast. Today's episode was edited by the always meg Atkins.
Thank you, Meg.
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